Hinge-joint



(N6 Model.)

M. SPRING. HINGE JOI T.

No. 315,566. Patented Apr. 14, 1885.

InLIEnfur:

h/l'fnessesz UNITED STATES PATENT lrrrcn.

HINGE-JOINT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 315,566, dated April 14, 1885;

Application filed May 17, 1884.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, MENZO SPRING, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of San Francisco, State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hinge-Joints; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of my said invention, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings.

My invention relates to improvements in hinge-joints; and it consists in certain novel construction of parts to produce a hinge-joint in which all loose play from wear is entirely overcome, and a smooth, free motion,without looseness, is obtained; also, in a reversible pivot and certain peculiar formation of joint, whereby either side of the joint may be used outward and the joints used interchangeably for artificial legs, for either thigh and knee bearing or leg amputations, the short bending required to fit joints of other construction to the limbs being overcome. These are the qualities essential in a hinge-joint for artificial limbs, to which character of hinge my improvements are more particularly adapted, although the same novel features are applicable to hinges for other structures and for other use as well. 7

These improvements are in the following description fully explained and pointed out, wherein also the construction of a hinge for knee-joints of artificial legs is explained.

In the accompanying drawings, herein referred to, Figure 1 is a side View of a hinge for knee-joints made according to my invention. Fig. 2 shows the parts with the center screw or pivot removed and the two members separated. Fig. 3 is a cross section taken longitudinally through the j oint; Fig. 4 shows the head of the sleeve or tubular part of the pivot. Figs. 5 and 6 are details of the parts that form the pivot and the parts used in connection therewith to take up wear and regulate the degree of ease of play or movement in the joint. Fig. 7 shows the relative position of a set of such hinge-joints when applied to a leg where the amputation is above the knee and to knee-bearing legs.

An exchange of position in the two hinges (No model.)

adapts them for leg-amputations below the knee, in which adjustment the pivots are reversed, so as to throw the heads of the screws outward, as shown in Fig. 3. One strap or iron, A, has a single circular disk, (1, and the other, B, has two disks, b 1), between which the single disk fits closely. The outer circular edges of all the disks bear against seats or shoulders a b of corresponding form. The center of these knuckles a 1) bis a pintle or pivot formed of a tubular piece, D, and a screw, E; but the wearing -surface of the pivot is a ring, G, that fits the eye a of the knuckle and surrounds the body of the pivot. The part D has a tubular screw-threaded passage, d, and a head, D, of larger diameter than the body and joined to it by a tapering neck. The screw-threaded passage extends through from end to end, and at thetail end of the piece is reamedout to give a countersunk seat for the tapering neck of the screw E, of which the body takes into the threaded passage, while the head E is of equal diameter with the head D of the other piece. The eyes in the outside knuckles are countersunk to take these heads D and E, and the eye of the inner knuckle is of larger diameter than the body of the part D of the pivot so as to take the ring G. This part G is flush on both sides of the knuckle in which it is set, and is of suitable thickness to fill the space between the body of the pivot around which it is fitted and the surface of the eye -a in the middle knuckle. In addition to its office as the bearing-surface of the knuckle a, this ring G is of such character and is so applied that it acts to regulate the movement of the hinge-joint and give any degree of easeor of stiffness in the joint. For such purpose the ring has a slotted seat, h, and a similar groove or seat, h, is cut in the face of the part D, and these two slots being brought together a key or wedge piece,H,is slipped in between them after the ring and this part of the pivot are inserted into the knuckle, a slot, 71?, being provided in the eye of this knuckle to let in the wedge H. The ends of the wedge are beveled to engage the neck of the two heads D E, and by setting up the screw part E of the pivot the wedge is forced outward against the back of the slot h in the ring G. The effect IOO of this is to spring or press out the ring G within the eye of the knuckle, and thus take up all lost motion, as well as to increase the friction between the surface or bearings ot' the two parts in degree according to the force applied to turn the screw. To increase this quality of extensibility in the ring, I make a slot, g, across the body and opposite the slot 71, as seen in Fig. 6.

To confine the center screw in. place against any tendency to work loose, I make use of a locking device consisting of a check-screw, I, that, by taking into the head of the part 1), is set up against the end of the screw E, inserted from the opposite end of the threaded passage (1. This constitutes an effective check or lock to hold the main screw firm under all conditions.

In producing a hinge for knee-joints, I set off the upper strap,B,from the center, so that the swell of the joint is brought entirely to one side, but the other strap, A,is kept on the center. This enables the hinge to be used both for knee-joints,where the amputation is below the knee, and for other situations where amputations occur above the knee, for in the first-named case the swell of the hinge-joints is turned outward and the inner sides of the upper straps,B, are brought closely against the sides of the thigh, while in the 1ast-described application the swell of the joints is turned inward, as seen in Fig. 7 of the drawings, to better fit the contour of a thigh-socket shaped to correspond with the opposite or sound member.

It should be understood that in the first-described adjustment of the joints they are fitted to the limb or are to conform to the thigh as it is, and to the perishing or shrinking away of the limb as it will be after amputation has taken place.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. In ahinge-j oint,the combination,with the 4 knuckles a b b, of the pivot formed of the parts D E and the ring G, substantially as described.

2. in a hinge-joint, the combination of the knuckles a Z) Z), the two-part pivot D E, having enlarged conical heads, the ring G, and the wedge-piece H, substantially as described.

3. A center or pivotbearing forhinge-joints, consisting of the parts D ll), the ring G, with slotted seat 71, and the wedge H, with beveled ends, substantially as described.

4. The combination,with a screw, as E, that enters and is held in place within a threaded socket, as D, of the check-screw I, adapted to be set up against the end of the screw E, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. A hinge-joint for artificial legs wherein the upper half or member and its knuckles are integral and the member is set off to one side of the center to bring the swell of the joint to one side,the lower half or member being practicall y inline with the middlelmuckle, of which it is a continuation, substantially as described, for the purpose set forth.

6. Thehingejoint for artificial limbs, consisting of the strap A, with knuckle a, the strap B, having stationary knuckles b b, with one of which knuckles said strap B is practically in line, the reversible pivot D ll, the ring G, and the check-screw I, all combined as described.

MENZO SPRING. [1.3.]

Witnesses:

L. LAUTERMILCH,

Urns. D. WHEAT. 

